Hydrocarbon-burning apparatus.



J. D. BOLBY I H. K. FAIRALL.

HY'DROCARBON BURNING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 19, 191s.

1,1 17,773. Patented N0v.17, 1914.

3 W' g I 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

YHE MORRIS PEIERS Cn FnoroALlrHo wAsHrNGmN, 'n c J. D. BOLBY & H. K. PAIRALL.

HYDROGARBON BURNING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAYw. 1913.

1,1 17,773. Patented NOV.17,1914.

o 5 2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

gi 23 t 7^ [lll lfd,

THE MORRIS PETERS co.. PHuTo-Ll'rHo wAsHlNGroN. n. L

UUTD STAT FAENT FCE.

JOHN D. BOLEY AND HARRY K. FAIRALL, OF HIGHLAND, CALIFORNIA.

HYDROCABBCN-BUELNING APPARATUS.

Application led May 19, 1913.

To all y'whom it' mcjz/ concern Be it known that we, Jorim D. BoLsr and Hanni' K. FMI-:ALL both citizens oi the United States, residing at llighland` in the county oil San Bernardino and State of California, have invented a new and useful Hydrocarbon-Burning Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention to provide means that will burn petroleum of low gravity, such as the petroleums known as crude oils and distillates, with maximum eliiciency, cleanliness. economy, convenience, and safety, and without odor.

Further objects are automatic regulation of the fire, the production of a large volume ot' blue flame in stove, furnace, fireplace or the open air; to avoid accumulations of unconsnmed products which might clog thc burner: and also to provide a construction ot' burner which is not liable to clog.

It is well-known that low grade petroleums can be burned to the best advantage by the use oi' an atomizing or nebulizing fluid, such as air or steam under pressure, the same being directed to act upon the oil so as to spray, vaporize or nebulize the same; and this invention is designed to provide a self-contained burning apparatus ot convenient size which will automatically produce the required steam pressure for a predetermined amount o fire, which can be easily charged with water and oil and will burn evenly and uniformly after fully starting into operation, until practically all of the water and oil have been consumed.

An object of the invention is to provide a hydrocarbon burner using oil and water to the best advantage as fire-producers and to so construct the apparatus that it may be oi' convenient size tor domestic and household use and other purposes; and also to provide a self-contained pressure-operated oil burning apparatus that can be used in orchards for preventing frost.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a hydrocarbon burning apparatus constructed in accordance with this invention and adapted for use as an orchard heater. Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmental Sectional elevation on line rc2, Figs. 3, 6 and 7. Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmental sectional elevation on line x3, Figs., 1, 2, 5 and 6. The water level is shown and the arrows indicate the course Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1914.

sei-iai No. 768,672.

ot' the steam in the generating tubes. Fig. a is an elevation of the :fuel nozzle and the jet tip. Fig. is a broken elevation of the apparatus as it may be arranged for household use. Fig. G is a plan of the apparatus as shown in Fig. T is a broken eleration trom the lett of Figs. 5 and 6.

lt is understood that the apparatus can be variously constructed and that the invention not limited to the specific forms shown in the drawings.

ln this invention we provide a closed circuit comprising a pressure tank 1, lower and upper conduits 2, 3, respectively connected with the pressure tank below and above the liquid level oi said tank, and a liquid trap or steam generator 4 connecting said conduits; and wc arrange the same in combination with a jet piece 5 connected by pipes 6. T, with the circuit outside said liquid level and directed toward the trap, and fuel supply means comprising a nozzle 8, valve 9, pipe 10 and oil reservoir 11.

In combination with said closed circuit, jet means 53 and the fuel supply means, there are also provided certain means to direct the jet, certain means to apply the Hame to the liquid trap, certain means to distribute the flame, and certain means to mix the fuel with air around the trap so as to secure the highest efficiency; and in this connection various features of construction are employed. That is to say, the jet directing means shown in the drawings is formed at the end of the pipe 6 by constructing the end ot' the pipe with a spoon-like tip comprising a. bowl 12 having an open concaved end 13 in iront of a contracted orifice 14 which opens behind and below the nozzle 8, so that when there is no pressure in the pressure tank any oil flowing from said nozzle will be caught in the bowl and held in front of the contracted orifice 14; and when pressure is produced in the tank a blast proceeds from said opening and the oil will be caught by such blast and carried Jforward toward the trap; and as the operation continues the oil is sprayed, atomized or nebulized and .forcibly driven toward the trap.

Said trap is preferably an S-trap constructed of three vertical limbs 15, 16, 17

and suitable bendsV arranged in a commonv plane that is normal to the axis of the jet piece 5, the iirst limb 15 being connected by an elbow 18, nipple 19 and elbow 20 with the lower conduit 2 of the circuit, and being also connected by bend 21 with the middle limb 1G which in turn is connected by a bend 22 with the discharging limb 17 of the trap that in turn is connected by an elbow with the upper conduit 3 of the circuit.

pan haring a lip 2,5 arranged below the jet means 5 and the nozzle 8 receives any drip which may occur from the tip 12 and causes the saine to accumulate directly below the trap; he bottom of the pan being sloped and centrally concaved for this purpose, and the trap being arranged centrally above the bottom of the pan. Said pan is provided with a wall 2,6 which prevents the liquid from oreriiowing and is arranged also to forma seatlfor a 'lire chamber 9.7 that iits within the wall which is preferably inode circular throughout a portion of its extent; and said fire chamber is provides with an inlet 2S directly in front of the iet means and between the iet means and the lower bend of the trap, and is also provided with an outlet or open top a above the leyelof the et piece, so that when the .jet is in operation the liquid fuel from the nozzle S will be driven through the inlet 2Q to produce fire inside the fire chamber 27 and against the lower portion of the trap.

From the foregoing it is clear that flame will be directed against the vlimb 15 to generate steam therein, and that flame will also be directed against the limbs 15 and 17 to further heat the steam generated in 'the limb 15, thus enabling steam to be quickly raised and also insuring maximum steam pressure with'niininium consumption of fuel so that a small lire will produce relatively high steampressure to effect substantially perfect combustion.

A. perforated mixing plate 29 is held in place insidethe fire chamber by lugs 30 below the top of vthe lire chamber so that the fuel and the carried by the jet into the fire chamber' may become thoroughly mixed so as to burn in the vmost efficient manner, the result being that the main combustion, will tale place above lthe mixing plate, and practically complete combustion will occur above said lplate when theburner is in operation.

T he pipes 5, 7 are provided with a safety valve 31 which will be set to blow off at a desired pressure.

The degree of combustion depends upon the force of th'e iet and the amount of liquid fuel supplied thereto; the force of the iet depends u-pon the vamount ofheat applied-to the trap, and the amount of heat applied to the trap will depend upon the amount of fuel supplied tol the burner.

-A water glasslV is provided to indicate the amount of water contained in the pressure tan-lr which is -adapted to be 'lilled through' the filling.; port 33 that is ordinarily closed by a plug Se; and in the form shown in Fig. 1, the oil reservoir 1l is located immediately above the pressure tank 1, the walls of the tank and reservoir being, constructed of one piece of sheet metal, there being a bottom or partition 35 between the upper and lower ends of said wall, the bottoni 36 of the pressure tank being fastened in the lower end and the bottom 35 of the oil reservoir being` fastened intermediatethe ends of said wall. The oil reservoir 'may be provided with a loose cover 37 vwhich may be removed 'and replacedfas desired. It is understood, lantern-1:.y that the tank and reservVoir as "well as other parts' ofthe apparatus may be of cast metal or may Vbe `of any suitable construction.

ln practice the lpressure tank 1 is filled with water to LL-level belowthe'l'u'ppercon duit 3, thus filling the lower conduit 2 and the first limb 15 of the trap toa desired level, but leaying' the middle Iand discharge limbs 16, 17, the bend 22, elbowQB 'and upper conduit 2 free from water. The oil reservoir will be supplied with oil and when it is desired to start the burner into operation, the valve 9 will be opened to allow oil to drip througigh the nozzle 8, thus to fill and overflow the bowl of the burner tip. The overflow oil will be caught by the lip 25 and directed into the pan 24k where -it may'be'ignited by a torch or any other :suitable means, whereupon the flame rises therefrom around the trap, heating the same Eand thus generating steam which passes through the upper bend 21, the middle limbl, lower bend 122, the discharge limb 17 and the luppervco'nduit 3 into rthe upper portion of the pressure tank from which the pressure is applied through the pipes 7 and 6 to the jet-piece 5, thu's aoting' up on the fuel that drips A from the nozzle 8 and spraying the same through-'the inlet 52S into the fire chamber-where the fuel'becomes ignited and increases lthe'heat upon the trap, thus increa'singathe production of steam and increasing' the kpressure in vthe pressure tant: and 'at the Ijet piece 5, so that the :fire vin the fire chamber is intensified. The amount of fire will be regulated by opening` or closingfthe Valve '9, thu'sto allow a `greate: or less amount of oil to escapev through the nozzle 8. When the lburner has come into complete operation, the'amount of lire will practically vremain `vinvariable so long as the amount of oildeliyered through the nozzle 8 remains unchanged. Thefheat is applied vvdirectly to theintermediateand discharginglimbs and tendsfto direet'lyfheat the steam that flows to the .jet piece.

lt is 'desirable thatI the steam delivered at the jet piece vshall be wet and therefore Yhigh pressuresy are ynot required. VYiBy :arranging the oil tan-k -aboveth-e pressureftanlnas shown,l thev heat from-the steamvrin the 4pres'suretank tends to *keep the Voi-l in -ahigh.-st-ate' of iuidity, thusl facilitating combustion and enabling the burner to burn heavy oil with ease.

lVith the form shown in Fig. l, the whole apparatus, excepting the pan 24@ and the fire chamber and mixing plate, is fixed together and can be conveniently carried into the orchard and changed from place to place. The fire chamber and mixing plate will be connected to the conduits 2, 3; and the pan may be separately carried. ln the drawings the pressure tank and the pan are shown supplied with legs 38, 39, but it is understood that many variations of construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit of this invention. When assembled the pan 2l supports the tire chamber and the legs 39 support the `aan. i In the modilication shown in Figs. 5, (3 and T, the oil reservoir l1 is not directly above the pressure tank l but is separately supported, so that it may be situated. in any place outside of the house which may be desii-able when the device is used for household purposes. In this modification, the filling port and closing plug 34 are situated in the top of the pressure tank l, and the safety valve 31 extends above the top of the pressure tank l.

The nozzle 8 is formed of an elbow screwed onto a nipple 8l that is screwed into the body of the valve 9 in front of the valve seat il0 that is closed by the needle 41, and the bore of the elbow is circular and of large diameter as compared with that of the nipple, so that there will always be plenty of air space above and in front of the stream of oil that flows from the nipple, and said oil stream is accommodated at the rear segment 4t2 of said bore and the front wall of the elbow is cut away obliquely as shown at 43 to bring the tip of the nozzle to a central point at the rear of the nozzle so that the oil will flow down in a ine true stream directly onto the center of the steam jet that issues from the jet orifice. The top of jet pipe 6 is flattened and slanted downward at the portion 42 just behind the jet orifice 14, thus to direct the steam jet downward toward the upwardly slanting front portion at 13, of the tip, thus to break up the steam jet by glancing impact on the tip. By this construction and arrangement of the nozzle and jet piece, the moderate pressures involved, operate with great efficiency to put the oil and air into the iire chamber in proper condition for combustion.

By this construction and arrangement the safety valve 3l may be set to blow ofi1 at a pressure of from 5 to l5 pounds, thus insuring safety against explosions.

The nozzle 8 is held in place relative to the jet-piece 5 by suitable means as the cla-mp shown which consists of a bent plate 44 embracing the nozzle nipple 8l, and the jet-piece pipe (i and sprung tightly thereon by the bolts and nuts 45.

The plate 29 may be formed of two pieces as shown in Figs. 2 and G so as to be easily put into and removed from around the trap in the fire chamber.

lVe claim l. In an oil-burning apparatus, t-he combination of a closed circuit comprising conduits and a tank adapted to contain water, a. fire chamber situated to supply heat to a portion of said conduits whereby the water entering said conduits from said tank will give ofi' steam which will return to the tank above the water supply, an oil reservoir situated directly above said tank whereby the. heat of the steam in said tank will heat the oil to increase its fluidity, a jet piece directed into said tire chamber, a pipe connecting the upper end of said tank to said jet piece to supply steam thereto, a nozzle situated above said jet piece, and a pipe connecting said cil reservoir to said nozzle to supply oil thereto, said nozzle being positioned to drip oil onto said jet piece.

2. In an oil-burning apparatus, the combination of al closed circuit comprising conduits and a tank adapted to contain water, a fire chamber situated to supply heat to a portion of said conduits whereby the water entering said conduits from said tank will give off steam which will return to the tank above the water supply, a. partition forming the top of said tank, an oil reservoir situated directly above said tank whereby the heat of the steam in the tank will heat the oil to increase its fluidity, said partition forming the bottom of said oil reservoir, a jet piece directed into said fire chamber, a pipe connecting the upper end of said tank to said jet piece to supply steam thereto, a nozzle situated above said jet piece, and a pipe connecting the oil reservoir to said nozzle to supply oil thereto, said nozzle being positioned to drip oil onto said jet piece.

3. The combination with a closed circuit comprising a pressure tank, lower and upper conduits connected with the pressure tank below and above the liquid level of said tank, and a trap connected with said conduits; of a fuel supply reservoir, jet means connected with the circuit above the liquid level and directed toward the trap, a fuel supply pipe connected with the fuel supply reservoir and directed to supply liquid fuel to said jet means, a fire chamber surround ing the trap and provided with an orifice to admit a jet to the trap from said jet means, said iire chamber having an outlet above the level of the. jet, and a perforated mixing plate inthe chamber below the outlet and above the level of the jet means.

4. In an oil-burning apparatus, the combination of a closed circuit comprising conduitsV and-a tank adapted to contain water, axtire chamber situated to supply heat to a portion of said conduits whereby the Water entering said conduits from said tank Will give olia steam which Will return to the tank above the Water supply to there increase the pressure in said tank, an oil reservoir, a jet piece directed into said ire chamber, a pipe connecting the upper end of said tank to said jet piece to supply steam thereto, a nozzle situated above said jet piece, and a second pipe connecting the oil reservoir to said nozzle to supply cil thereto,` said nozzle being positioned to drip oil onto said jet piece.

5. In an oil-burning apparatus, the combination of a closed circuit comprising conduits and a tank adapted to contain Water, means to heat the Water While passing from one'conduit to the otherI conduit whereby the Water entering said conduits from said tank Will give oilA steam which will return to the tank above the Water supply, an oil reservoir, a burner, a pipe in communication With the upper end of said tank to conduct steam to said burner, and a second pipe in communication with the oil reservoir to conduct oil to said burner.

6. The combination with a i'uel nozzle and jet'piece, of a liquid trap having vertical limbs arranged in a common plane that is normal to the axis of said jet-piece, and means to maintain Water in one ot said limbs, said jet-piece when lighted being directed toward the limbs to heat the same so Copies ofsthispatent lmay be obtained for five cents each,` by addressing the that steam rises from the Water in said one limb and passes over into the succeeding vertical limbsto be there further heated.-

7. The combination of a closed circuit comprising a pressure tank containing water, a liquid trap, said trap having three upright limbs, a conduit connecting the upper end of the pressure tank with the upper end of one of the outer limbs of said trap, a second conduit. in communication With the lower end of the tank and passing under the three limbs and connected to the lower end of the other outer limb, jet means connected with the pressure tank and directed toward the lower ends oi the three limbs of said trap and the portion oi' the conduit passing under said limbs, and fuel supply means to supply liquid uel to said jet means, Water being maintained in said other limb at, a level equal to the Water level in said tank, the jet means when lighted heating the Wa-v ter in said other limb thereby forming steam which rises and passes to the succeeding limbs Where it is further heated before' returning to the tank.

ln testimony whereof, We have hereuntc` set our hands at Highland, California, thiQ 12th day of Maja?, 1913.

5011K D. ROLEX'. p HARRY K. FAIRLL.

In presence oi'- C. M. HILL, L. J. MosnLY.

Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. C. 

